WIMBLEDON


July 7, 2002


Serena Williams
Venus Williams

Wimbledon, England


MODERATOR: Venus and Serena. Over to you.

Q. This is what we would call a double whammy, meaning you have two titles.
How are you going to celebrate now?

SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't know.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I'm going to eat candy, rest, get off of the practice court
and just relax, relax, relax.

Q. Chris Evert was saying today that you guys have set the new standard in
tennis. It's up to the other players now to see how they're going to react to
make it interesting. Could I just get your reaction to that? Is that how you
see it, as well?

VENUS WILLIAMS: Well, we've had a great past, I guess, six weeks with the
French Open and the Wimbledon. But we realize that that doesn't make a
career. We want to just keep our level up, at this level that we're playing
now, and also to improve. So we're more or less basically concentrating on
ourselves.

Q. Would you consider playing mixed doubles now?

SERENA WILLIAMS: Not anymore. It's too much. It's just definitely too much.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Too many events. We're old (laughter).

Q. So many people look at the prediction your dad made about the two of you a
long time ago, 1 and 2. In the big picture, what do you think about a guy
saying that his two kids, when they're still very young, are going to become
No. 1 and 2, and it actually happens?

VENUS WILLIAMS: I think you should ask this guy who is going to win the
races.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, I don't know. It's just really not bold, but I guess
if you know you're working for something and you know that you put a lot of
work into it, only good can come out of it.

Q. Has he made any other predictions that are either pretty good or pretty
bad?

VENUS WILLIAMS: Have to find out. I don't know.

SERENA WILLIAMS: No, not lately.

Q. Have you spoken to him this weekend?

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah, of course. I speak to him almost every day. I haven't
talked to him today yet, but yesterday, yeah.

Q. What did he say?

SERENA WILLIAMS: I was unfortunately going out to play another doubles match.
He just was saying to have fun, that's it.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Did he know the result already?

SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't know.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I'm not sure he even knew the result.

Q. In the past, you said he was busy. He's been such a presence at the
tournaments, now he hasn't been at Roland Garros and he hasn't been here. Can
you explain what the real reason your dad is not here is?

SERENA WILLIAMS: No, he just had other things to do. My mom is also our
coach. She also travels with us. There's really no big reason.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Just to follow up on that, we're just like regular people,
we're growing up, making our own decisions. Our dad doesn't always want to be
there. He wants to live his life, too.

Q. Doesn't seem to make any difference whether he comes or not?

VENUS WILLIAMS: It makes a big difference, for sure.

Q. You still win.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, but we still miss him.

Q. How do you miss him?

VENUS WILLIAMS: He's just so motivating. He's really motivating.

Q. Have you thought about what if anything you'll contribute to the Wimbledon
museum?

SERENA WILLIAMS: I contributed my dress, the one I wore in the match, my
shoes and socks.

Q. What is that, to just know you'll be able to go in there for years and
years to come and see a part of yourself in that?

SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, the museum is so historic, just has so much stuff in
it. When I went there the other day, I knew that I wanted to contribute
something to the museum. You can see the times change. It's definitely really
spectacular. I'm really excited.

Q. Have you ever seen the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode
Island?

SERENA WILLIAMS: No.

Q. You must visit, because you'll both be in there one day.

VENUS WILLIAMS: All right.

SERENA WILLIAMS: We hope.

Q. It's settled. You've done enough. When you won the US Open, you got a call
from President Clinton. Did you get any call on Saturday?

SERENA WILLIAMS: No, I didn't get any calls. They'll be calling us too much
at this rate (laughter).

Q. In terms of your nerves, how was today compared to yesterday?

SERENA WILLIAMS: Actually, I think I was a little tight today going out
there. Venus really had to calm me down and say, "You know, just calm down,
enjoy the battle." So I think I was a little too much tight.

Q. Your fitness, what is your suggestion for 15-, 16-year-old girls, what to
do for fitness like you?

VENUS WILLIAMS: I think just practice a lot, run a lot on the court. I think
that's the best suggestion when you're that young.

Q. Something special for muscles?

VENUS WILLIAMS: No, it's not good to lift weights so young.

Q. Nothing to suggest?

VENUS WILLIAMS: We just do exercises to stabilize, not to build muscle.

Q. I was interested to see that you mentioned the Bible in a couple of press
conferences this week, spirituality. Could you share with us what parts of
the Bible you particularly enjoy?

SERENA WILLIAMS: Well, I pretty much enjoy all the Bible. It says all
scriptures are inspired by God. The Old Testament I don't enjoy more than the
New Testament. Our Bible is all comprised and all together. So I think you
can learn from everything inside. Obviously, there's a lot of scriptures that
are motivating. I know the Book of Psalms is very motivating for me. But I
can't really say there's one part that I like more. I don't know.

Q. Do you have a favorite Psalm or two?

SERENA WILLIAMS: No, not really. I used to when I was younger, but not
anymore.

Q. Why do you think you were tight today?

SERENA WILLIAMS: I just didn't want to let Venus down. I just didn't want to
miss too many returns because it's okay in singles to let yourself down, but
to let someone else down, it's not fair. I don't think I would be good on a
team sport.

Q. You obviously want the best for your sister. Would you be upset if she
never beat you again at singles?

SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't understand. That's a different question.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Probably not.

Q. Have you won every Grand Slam doubles event you ever entered?

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yes.

VENUS WILLIAMS: No, not that we've entered.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Not that we've entered. But we've won them all. We've never
lost Wimbledon, have we?

VENUS WILLIAMS: No.

Q. How many Grand Slam events that you entered did you now win?

VENUS WILLIAMS: Five.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Five.

Q. Unless I'm mistaken, you've never lost to a player in back-to-back Grand
Slams. Stroke-wise on court, what do you think you have to do to get back in
terms of beating Serena?

VENUS WILLIAMS: I think I'm playing good already. Just it's hard to win every
match. On occasions, I've been able to triumph in a lot of them. But
especially in sports, you realize that's not always going to be the case and
you just keep coming back.

Q. Are you worried at all that your little sister may be on a roll here, that
you have to step it up next time round?

VENUS WILLIAMS: I'm definitely going to practice just as I would if I had won.

Q. After you won the doubles at the US Open last year, somebody asked you the
question about visiting Africa. Serena answered you were still thinking of
it. You were considering maybe South Africa, Nigeria. I know this is going to
be decided by not you alone. I would like to know at this time if the
interest is on your part?

SERENA WILLIAMS: We always have interest to go to different countries,
especially Africa. Hopefully one day we'll be able to make it - and hopefully
soon.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Yeah, definitely going to go. But not sure when.

Q. How long are you able to savor this before you need to start looking ahead
to the rest of the season?

VENUS WILLIAMS: We're already looking ahead.

SERENA WILLIAMS: That was so yesterday (laughter).

Q. Is that so difficult that you're not able -- that you have such success,
you can't savor it?

SERENA WILLIAMS: We have plenty of time in the future to savor it. Right now
people are trying to get better and improve their games, so we're going to
have to do something else.

Q. What do you like about Stanford, speaking of looking ahead?

VENUS WILLIAMS: I don't know. I feel calm at that tournament. I enjoy myself.
I have a little car. I drive around. Go to the mall. I just like it there.

Q. Where do you see the main challenges coming from in the near future in
women's tennis? Which people do you think will put the most pressure on you?

VENUS WILLIAMS: All players are quite good. We had a wonderful, wonderful
fortnight, but you can't expect to always have it the same.

Q. Do you ever have to temper your singles success against each other, the
celebration of it, because you do go home to the same house at the end of the
day?

VENUS WILLIAMS: Temper it?

SERENA WILLIAMS: No, not necessarily.

VENUS WILLIAMS: I don't understand the question.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Do you ever reduce the celebration basically?

Q. In other words, if you beat Serena, is it harder to just let it all out?

SERENA WILLIAMS: No.

VENUS WILLIAMS: We never celebrate.

SERENA WILLIAMS: We never even celebrate. Almost there's no time. We're doing
another thing. We're doing another interview.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Talking to you. Next flight.

Q. Aside from the awards ceremony and match point, will there be any one
moment in the singles tournament that you think you'll recall years from now?

SERENA WILLIAMS: There's definitely a lot of great points in a couple
different matches, but I can't think of any right now. Maybe I'd have to look
at the film. When I look at the film, I can recall what's happening. I can
say, "Oh, I'm going to do this here." But right now I can't.